Salmon Poached in Spicy Thai Sauce

I was in the mood for something very spicy tonight. Something that would leave a lasting impression! It was a balmy evening so I also didn’t want anything too heavy or rich, so settled on a light Thai fish dish. Salmon works really well with coconut based curry sauces so was a perfect choice for this dish. I added a lot of chillies (more than I suggest here), maybe 30, which made it more than a little spicy. It was completely manageable though and gave me a hot, but incredibly fragrant sauce to accompany the fish. You can scale the chillies up or down obviously. 5 will give you medium/mild moving up the scale to 20 for hot. Whatever your threshold is, you’ll enjoy this I’m sure!

DIRECTIONS:
In a food processor, blend together all the paste ingredients until smooth. Set aside.

Heat a wok with the peanut oil over a medium high heat. When hot, tip in the paste and stir, let it sizzle for 5 minutes, stirring regularly to avoid sticking. Pour in the coconut cream, fish sauce, sugar and about 300ml water and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Gently slide in the salmon fillets and cook for 5-8 minutes until cooked thorough. Carefully remove from the pan and tip in the vegetables and cook for 3 minutes. Stir a few of the herbs and the lime juice and serve.

SERVING:
Over a bed of Jasmine rice, spoon over some sauce and vegetables, then place a salmon fillet on top. Spoon over a little more sauce. Garnish with Thai basil, coriander and shredded kaffir leaves and a few snow pea shoots. Enjoy!